The Company

MicroProcessor Engineering specialises in Real-Time and
Embedded systems. We design tools for the complete development
cycle including hardware, software and firmware. These products
operate on desktops and a wide range of embedded targets.

We have been in business since 1981.

Over the years, we have provided
solutions to companies as diverse as NASA, Europay, local charities,
small businesses, Ministry of Defence and major supermarket
chains.

MPE was founded in 1981 as a hardware company making single
board computers. The requirements of fast development, portability
and real-time led us into high level languages. With our background in
machinery control, telemetry and systems software, we
selected Forth as our software tool of first choice.

Forth Compiler Products

Using our proven VFX compiler technology development,
MPE offers Forth development systems that produce code as
fast as that for any other language - but with all the
benefits of an interactive development cycle and traditional
Forth implementations.

Another significant development is
the DocGen system that allows HTML and PDF manuals to
be generated directly from project source code.

Hardware Products

Our current hardware ranges includes the PB2468 PowerBoard.
Current developments tend be based around ARM/Cortex CPUs.
These are supported by our Forth cross compilers, PowerNet TCP/IP
stack and embedded Web server, USB stack, FAT file system and
embedded GUI.

Consultancy

MPE
consultancy services
stem from both hardware and software, and keep us in tune with
the requirements of users, so helping us to improve our products.
Projects range from small embedded systems to supporting
a Windows project with over 1,100,000 lines of Forth source code.

Training

We use our software products every day. New users of the interactive
Forth development environment often want to learn it quickly and
efficiently and to understand the advantages our tools provide.
Different training courses
are provided - either standard or tailored to your specific needs.

Location

MicroProcessor Engineering Limited

Our staff

MPE is a decentralised company that takes full advantage of
modern communication methods. When you contact us, you will probably
be referred to one of the people mentioned here as a technical contact.

Stephen Pelc

Stephen is an electronics engineer by training, but has been
writing software since the days of Algol 60.
+44 (0)23 8063 1441, +44 (0)7803 903612, stephen@mpeforth.com
Speaks English and French.

Stephen founded MPE in 1981 after a career that included
running a community arts centre, printing posters, picking
strawberries, writing software for glass cutting machines,
designing hardware for active noise reduction and electrostatic stirrers,
software for flood warning schemes, and hardware and software
for a bank note sorting machine.

Stephen designed the VFX code generator used by MPE's
current Forth systems and managed the European project that
produced the first VFX systems.

Juergen Pintaske

Juergen's electronics career started young at 12, with his first
radio, 80m receiver and amplifier. Years later, after his
Dipl.-Ing. in telecoms, electricity sensors were in - not the
normal stuff but for up to 100kV or 500A, and the first CMOS
micro. Then application engineering at RCA in Brussels, then
Germany again. The first Forth activity was a custom micro
running Forth in an FPGA. Finally a move to the UK, for Marketing,
PR, translation, then went back into sales for 10 years.

In his spare time, Juergen writes and publishes eBooks about
electronics and software topics including Forth, see links on this
website from the books
page.

Ian Thain

Ian's talent as an engineer started when he undid all the wing
nuts on his pram so that its hood collapsed. When the microprocessor
leaped on to the world stage in the 1970s, Ian's
first programmable scientific calculator made him an immediate
convert to software. He bought a Rockwell industrial micro which
came with Forth in ROM and a pile of text books. Three years later
he emerged to take up his first job in computing as system manager
of an HP mini which ran the London office of a German multi-national
manufacturer of electronic test equipment. Since then Ian's fund of
stories includes radio, GPS, mobile messaging and Filippino
anthropology.

Ian handles organisational things and marketing for us as well
as product design and development.

It was Paul's knowledge of safety-critical systems
and processes that enabled us to get US FDA approval (at
the first submission) for medical equipment used in
operating theatres.

Barry Culver

Barry is our UK hardware designer. The
PB2468 is
one of his designs. According to Barry, electronic design is
the art and science of selecting components that fit together
to work reliably and well. The joy of electronics is that all
the time the range of components is getting wider, with an
endless stream of smaller/faster/better parts to choose from!

Apart from electronics, Barry has experience in welding,
painting, machining, sheet metal bashing, testing, mechanical
design and the other trades of a scientific instrument manufacturer.
He's an excellent Forth application programmer with a fully
equipped hardware development lab.

Barry can be relied upon to find a hole in any specification.

Peter Knaggs

Peter was introduced to Forth through the Jupiter Ace in 1983
and did a PhD on "the application of software
engineering concepts to embedded software development".
While in academia, Peter was the editor of the Journal of Forth
Applications and Research, and became the editor of the Forth200x
standards document. He's now back in the commercial world.

Peter has a strong interest in things traditional, from ale
to music, dance and song. He is involved a number of music
festivals.

Peter is the part of the toolmaking team that tells us how
to do it properly.

Barto Gillespie

Barto is our structural integrity test engineer. Although
young, he has specialist knowledge of fabrics, domestic furniture,
garden excavations and game birds.

Barto handles our interactions with all non-humans except cats,
with whom he seems to be unable to communicate effectively.

Partial customer list

On some consultancy jobs clients have asked us to sign non-disclosure
agreements covering not only the work but the client name as well.
They regard Forth as a competitive advantage for their work.
The following is thus just a partial list from our customer base.